Alive and Breathing
by becca428
Summary: They both struggled on their journey. After all they've been through, everything they've done together. But she knew that he lied to her about the Fireflies. But why did he do it? Why would he sacrifice the cure for humanity? Will the lie change their relationship they've both developed over a year ago? Will they ever move on from the past and keep moving forward?


**AN: How's it going bros? I'm doing good...actually, great (which is surprising LOL XD). I know, I'm a slacker at writing stories and you bros are hoping for me to update on my other stories as well. Look, I'm trying my best, I really am but there's so much going on at school and other stuff happening in my life that results me not getting around with my writing. I'm sorry for keeping you bros waiting. So...to make up for that, here's a last of us oneshot I wrote for you. (This game change my life, I swear it did, that's all I think about :D well not always LOL) I really love the father-daughter bond Joel and Ellie shared together, which is the biggest reason why I love the game so freaking much. Aw, da feels!  
~So, incase of copyright issues and other stuff like that, I don't own anything by Naughty Dog~**

* * *

Many months pass by since Joel and Ellie returned back to Tommy's settlement. It was about the time year again when the leaves change colors and the weather got colder. But it wasn't a problem for them; they both finally have a place where no one thought they could have ever again: home. They both share a small, two-story house. The house had everything anyone needed: a living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom! A bathroom with a working toilet, that is! This place gives everyone a second chance; a brand new start. What could possibly change something this incredible? How would this paradise, like this, be broken? But…something was off. It was now starting to bother Ellie. Was it because of the lie? Yes, it was, but why? Why did he lie to her? She knows that he did, even when he swore to her that day.

"_Swear to me that everything that you have said about the Fireflies is true." _

_He shifts awkwardly, taking him a moment before speaking once more. "I swear."_

_She looks up at him with her dark green orbs. She looks away then back at him and nods in satisfaction. "Okay."_

That look in his eyes, it told a different story. But why would he lie to her? He would never lie to her! Maybe…there's a reason. There's got to be a good reason to why he did it.

It was now about around five o'clock around the evening. Ellie was reading her twelfth issue of _Savage Starlight _on the family couch. The couch was dirty and full of holes and torn apart but it was better than nothing. She skims through every page quickly, eager to finish it.

_Holy shit! This story is about to get intense! _

She starts to tap the sides of the pages, a smile forms to her face as she got to the last two pages. Her smile fades away by the time she finishes it. Her favorite character, Lexi, dies in the story. Those green eyes that we bright suddenly darken and grits her teeth.

"Goddammit!" she roars. "I should've known that Cam was up to no good! That fucking asshole killed her!"

She took a firm grip of her comic and threw it across the room; it hits the wall and falls to the floor with a loud sound. Ellie sighs heavily and moans; she flops back down on the couch and buries her face into some old, faded pillows. She curses into it as she pounds her fist onto the floor.

"Are you alright?" said a deep, southern voice.

Ellie looks up; she brushes the sides of her reddish-brown hair back behind her ear to get a better view of the person who was staring back at her. It was Joel. He did nothing but stare her down with a raised eyebrow. He waits patiently for her answer.

"Um, uh…what are you talking about?" Ellie scuffs.

"Oh, don't you play dumb with me, girl. What got ya'll act up?"

She looks away and back up at him. She starts to get up from the position she was previously and sits up in a more comfortable sitting position. "I'm fucking pissed, that's what! Cam killed Lexi and then took over the damn universe!" She groans and sinks back into the couch. "I knew she should've gone with Derek instead of that asshole."

"So you got to get all of act like this all over a silly comic book?" He smirks playfully.

Ellie's green eyes widen. "Hey!" She sits back up and points a finger up at him. "It is not a silly comic book! Savage Starlight is kinda like my second life."

Joel crosses his arms and shifts his standing position. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah", she states as a smile forms on her face, "When I'm reading it, I can always picture myself as Lexi and go with Derek on our crazy adventures through the universe and fight crime with these awesome lifesavers and lasers guns from blood, gory aliens and enemies far and wide."

Joel rolls his eyes, finding her statement ridiculous but amusing at the same time. "You are one strange kid, that's for sure", he chuckles.

"Oh, shut up!" She giggles and kicks him playfully. "At least I'm fun to hang out with."

"Yeah, that's true."

They both laugh with a joyful smile on their face. The room got quiet when they both settled down; it was an awkward silence until Joel broke it.

"Oh, almost forgot why I came in here," he states, "I wanna ask you if you want to ride one of the horse around the dam."

A warm smile appears on her face once again. "Hell yeah!" She gets up and stretches out her limbs. "But can we take Comatose this time?" She looks up at him with her best puppy-eye expression she could make, that made Joel smile even more.

"Sure, kiddo", he said, ruffling her hair. "But Tommy said we got to be back before dark. Infected are more active at night."

Ellie's smile widens. She immediately ran out the door, like nothing was stopping her. He turns around and walks up to the door, seeing her arms moving wildly as a sign to follow her to the barn.

"What are you waiting for? C'mon, old geezer! You're wasting my time here!"

"Oh, I'm comin', I'm comin'", he chuckles. He looks over at their bags, leaning against the wall. He wonders if he should take them, and he does. _Well better safe than sorry. _He grabs their bags and shuts the front door before following the hypered-up teen.

* * *

Joel and Ellie rode Comatose around the dam a couple of times and have a nice, decent conversation with each other. Once it was about their seventh time walking around, Joel decides to lead Comatose up the hill. As the hill gotten steeper, Ellie's grip tightens around his waist, afraid that she might fall off the ledge. Joel grabs her hand and squeezes it, both for comfort and affection. He turns his head and sees a faint smile appearing on her face. A smile forms on his face; he brought his attention back to the steep hill, never letting go of her hand.

They both finally get to the top of the hill. Joel hauls Comatose so can get off. He jumps down off of the saddle, Ellie did the same. She walks over to the edge and sits down while he ties Comatose up to the nearest tree. He walks over to Ellie and sits down beside her on the wet yet comfortable ground.

"Ugh", he groans, "I'm feelin' my age now."

She looks up at him. "That's a surprise", she said sarcastically.

He looks down at her, raising his eyebrow. "What is that suppose to mean?"

She bashes her eyelashes, swaying side to side for a bit. "Oh, nothing, don't worry about it."

"Good." He got closer to her face "I don't wanna take drastic measures here, if you know what I mean." He grins at her. Oh, he knows that she absolutely hates him tickling her, she really does. Her eyes widen and cover up her sides.

"No, please!" She wines playfully. "Don't tickle me to death like last time!"

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Well, think before you speak next time. It just might save your ass."

"I can't make promises I can't keep. And that is one of them."

He pokes her left side, an eruption of giggles immerge from her mouth. They both laugh for a long while, smiling at each other, like this moment was to last forever. They finally let the laughter subside. Joel wraps his right around the smaller figure and pulls her closer to him. Without thought, Ellie lays her head on his shoulder and sighs in relief. They both see the large settlement down below; it was illuminated by the sunset. It was beautiful. The sky was mixed all different colors and it would lead anyone to be astonished by the view.

"So…is that everything that you're hoping for?" Ellie looks up at Joel, away from the scenery for a moment.

Joel looks down at her; a faint smile was still form behind his beard. "Yeah…but you can't deny the view though." He brought his attention back to the sky, so did Ellie.

Ellie's eyes falls onto Joel's broken watch. It was the last thing he had left of his daughter, Sarah, his baby girl. Her smile fades away, looking away from him. Her thoughts lead back to his lie last spring. _That lie is still bothering me. Why did he lie? I got to know._ Her eyes falls back on his watch and back up at Joel. _It's now or never._

"Joel?"

"Yeah?"

She brushes off his arm around her and leans back. She stares up at his face, straight into his brown eyes. She wants to ask him but nothing would come out. She left out a shivering sigh and looks away.

"Hey, hey", he said full of concern. "What's wrong?"

She looks back at him; her face was full of seriousness written all over her face. "Joel?" Ellie spoke. "Why did you lie to me?"

His heart stuck in his throat, time stopped for what seemed like an eternity. One moment, he and Ellie were having a good time together, spent their entire evening in peace laughing and goofing off; a moment like this should last forever. But now, Ellie had lost her smile; her face dead serious, she's in no mood to joke around. The question Joel had avoided all this time hung in the air, suffocating him. He cleared his throat, choking on his words. "What are you-"

"Stop with the bullshit, Joel!" She gets up; she was starting to lose her patients quickly. "I knew you lied to me!"

"Ellie", he states, he gets up as well, waving a hand in front of him. "Now is not the time to-"

"Yes, Joel, it's definitely the fucking time to talk about it! I knew all along about you lying to me about the Fireflies! I want know, why did you lie to me?!" She was furious, way beyond pass furious. She grits her teeth up at him through her dark eyes; her hands turned into fist, her knuckles were so white that the bones were showing through the skin.

_I knew this day would come. It's time for me to tell her the truth. _"I don't know, I-" Joel sighs, looking to the sky in his deep thoughts._ I never knew this could be so difficult; telling my true feelings towards her. There's no turning back now. I got to tell her everything._ When nothing came he finally looked back at her, his eyes gentle with their gaze. He reached for her, a hand against her cheek. "I lost Sarah when this all began… She was my world. She was my everything."

Joel talking about Sarah never had gotten easier. It still hurt the same, every memory, every time he said her damn name; every reminder of her hurts so much. He felt thousands knives piecing through his chest as he spoke. "Losing her was the worst thing I had ever been through… I didn't think… I didn't want to feel like that… I locked myself out, I became a monster, I wasn't- I did things that weren't human because I didn't want to feel human, I wanted to be dead." He let out a loud, frustrating sigh. There were tears burning through his eyes.

"But then you came along, Marlene shoved you at me and… I didn't want it. I didn't want to deal with another child again. I couldn't take care of the first one! Even for a little bit, seeing you… I saw my daughter in you. The spark in your eyes, the easy going attitude… I thought she had come back to haunt me, and the wound ripped right open again…" He stops again to wipe away the tears streaming down the side of his face.

"But I saw you weren't her, and you became… I don't know, I guess… I just didn't want to mess everything up again. When I saw you on that operating table, it would've been like letting Sarah die in my arms all over again. Ellie, you are my chance to do things over again. You've become my world…" His voice cracked, and he licked his lips, stepping back away from her. He sees that she's getting teary-eyed as well.

"You've become like a daughter to me, Ellie. You-you have done more for me than anyone ever else had. You've almost fixed this grumpy old man…" He kicks a rock away, crossing his arms. "You gave me a reason to survive again. Just when I thought I was gonna throw in the towel… when I was gonna give up. You came along and became my life…" He looks at Ellie; a small smile appears on his face. "You're my daughter, and I love you more than anythin' in the world. I swore to protect you, even if it means sacrificing humanity to keep you safe."

His smile fades away as he dropped his hands to his side, standing up tall. "I would sacrifice myself to save you from this god-forsaken world. I would throw everything away, because fuck everyone! FUCK EVERYTHING!" He stops himself to calm down for a moment. He runs his hand through his beard; he sighs aloud once more.

"If you aren't here with me… alive, and breathing…" He left out another deep breath. He stops in the middle of his sentence to look at Ellie; her tears were streaming down her face. She was paralyzed from head to toe; all she could do was whimpered and sobbed. He had grabbed hold of her shoulders now he pulls her to him. He cradles the back of head, slowly rocking her back and forth. She wraps her arms around his waist, sobbing into his chest. He wraps his other strong, gentle arm around her smaller frame and brings her closer to him; they're in a tight hug.

"Who knows, even if the cure did work, what if it didn't? You'd have sacrificed yourself for nothin', and I would be… well, who knows where the hell I'd be…"Without Ellie, his baby girl, he was nothing. Ellie being alive was the only thing he cared about, even if she was off somewhere else in the world. "So as long as you're breathing, and your heart still beatin', that's all it matters." His lips meets her forehead; she looks up at him with teary-doe eyes. She smiles, so does he. Nothing in this world would will break their relationship, as father and daughter. They're both now a happy family.


End file.
